Manager Mick McCarthy has outlined why Jonny Williams wasn’t one of the players he introduced as a substitute during the second half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Cardiff City at Portman Road.
The Blues boss was already switching goalscorer Luke Varney and Grant Ward for Brett Pitman and Freddie Sears prior to Sol Bamba’s sending off, a swap which took place as the Bluebirds defender made his way towards the tunnel.
McCarthy then waited to see how the game developed for eight more minutes before replacing Jonathan Douglas with the more attacking Teddy Bishop with Williams one of those left unused.
Having made the earlier two earlier changes, McCarthy felt Bishop was a better fit as a replacement for Douglas than Williams, who he views more as a number 10 than a central midfield player per se.
"We had a physical threat with Brett, Freddie’s gone and played wide and Bish is Bish and we saw what he was capable of [with his run which led to a freekick just outside the box],” he said.
"It was a toss-up between that and then I’m not going to take Dougie off and put Jonny on in the centre of the park because he’s not really a central midfield player. That was just my choice.”
Since returning to fitness having rejoined the Blues for his fourth loan spell from Crystal Palace while he was recovering from an ankle injury suffered with the Eagles in pre-season, the 23-year-old Wales international has made six sub appearances but is yet to start a game.